Seeking Simplicity

At the Park – Days 8 – 12

Once again, over due for an update, so you are getting a long rambling post.

So, Thursday and Friday were all about work. Working and sleeping odd hours to support an issue going on in Kiev Ukraine. Opted out of the Parks pot luck Friday night as they were having Pizza and wings. Mmmm… Pizza… My biggest Achilles heal when it comes to trying to eat healthy. After a couple of long work days, I didn’t feel like fixing anything at the trailer to eat alone, so I headed to the Tavern for some food and social contact.

Met Russ and his girlfriend (Barbie if I recall correctly). As I was finishing my meal and drink, Tom came in with a young couple that had broken down a few miles south of town. Tom seems to have a heart of gold and goes out of his way to help folks in need. All the locals at the tavern were pitching in trying to think of other locals with mechanical experience and/or equipment to help tow their vehicle back to Douglas that Tom could reach by phone. Eventually, they were able to reach someone they knew back in Douglas that was going to help them out. Tom was planning on driving them back to their broken down vehicle so they could meet their contact there. As Alicia (Tom’s wife) had just arrived with a friend, the kitchen would be closing soon, and I was done with my food and drink, it occurred to me that I should offer to take the couple back to their vehicle so Tom and Alicia could enjoy their dinner together. So that is what I did. After I dropped the couple off at their car, I headed back to the property to try to find that NE corner (I had studied google map’s satellite pic and thought I had a better idea of where it should be). It was a nice walk in my snake boots over frequently rocky terrain, but I still had no further success at locating the marker and it was getting dark. While walking, a cottontail rabbit and I spooked each other, and I saw three deer on our land. As it was getting dark I decided I better head back to the truck and leave the search for another day.

Upon returning to the trailer, I spent some time jumping into a new tech / hobby / consulting project. I wanted to setup a Raspberry PI3 (small computer about the size of a deck of cards) as a controller of a new indoor/outdoor Ubiquiti wireless access point I bought to test for both myself at the property and for use by Rusty here at the RV Park. Seems like the stars were aligned against me on this project. I had never played with the Raspberry PI (been sitting and waiting for me for 6 months), so there were some prerequisites that I did not have covered. Very helpful to have a keyboard, mouse, and HDMI monitor (with appropriate HDMI cable of course). I had none of that. Could do it a more difficult way of formatting and installing the OS on a microSD card using another computer, and configure then network, and blah blah blah… More than I wanted to deal with. As my real goal was to test the wireless access point, I decided to use the linux laptop I brought with me. Ugh, wrong flavor of Linux to support the wireless software and with my slow internet, downloading an install for the right version of linux (was thinking of switching anyway) would take hours. Start the download. In the mean time, I lamented and decided to install the controller software on a work laptop to just test it out. Software installed fine, but the Windows firewall installed on it prevented it from operating properly. So that was a dead end. Uninstalled the software and called it a night. Guess I just wasn’t meant to test it Friday night.

Most of Saturday was spent on a trip to Tucson. 3 hour drive into Tuscon. Worked with a salesman on what would do what I need in terms of a tractor and filled out a finance application form. Still need to spend a bit of time looking for used in hopes of saving some green. Time will tell. Picked up a keyboard, trackball, Smart TV to use as a monitor, and a microSD card from Best Buy, a Dremel and shelving for the shed at Lowes, some lumber at Home Depot (Lowes’ panel saw was out of order and I didn’t feel up to dealing with a 8×4 3/4 sheet of plywood by myself), lunch at Taco Bell, bread, soymilk, fruit at Whole Foods, water at target, Midnight Mint Mocha Frappachino at Starbucks (YUM), taillight bulb for the truck from ORilley’s. 3 hour drive back to the park.

While in Tucson, got a call from my realtor informing me that the buyers were backing out due to the outdoor motor sport activities of the neighbors. Se La Vi.

Sasha was very happy to see me. After all the time she spent alone in our back yard in Michigan guarding the birds, she sure is liking all the attention and benefits of staying with me in the trailer. She is even getting a bit demanding for attention like his highness Hershey. I sure am glad she doesn’t give kisses – yet. Anyway, I digress.

Saturday evening was spent chatting on the phone with family and setting up my new toys to further the effort on the tech project. Tested the keyboard and mouse on the laptop, works well. Looked high and low in the trailer for an HDMI cable to connect my work laptop to the new smart TV without success – ordered one from Amazon. Connected up the Raspberry PI and ran through the new out of box software install. Just as it was finishing, I thought, hey, let’s connect the network cable – bad idea. It abandoned the install that was in progress that was being pulled from the microSD card installed in it, and instead wanted to download the install from the internet which would take hours… Oh well, bed time anyway. Let it download while I sleep.

If I haven’t bored you to death yet… I do have what I think is a humerus pet story from Saturday evening as I was sitting at the dining table in the trailer working on computer stuff. So one thing that I have noticed is that when Sasha is in the trailer, Hershey refuses to walk on or be on the floor. He has found a path from one end of the trailer to the other where he can manage to make it without stepping a single foot on the floor. I observed him making multiple trips to the kitchen sink looking for water and sitting on the couch looking longingly at the water dish on the floor on the far side of the trailer. One obstacle he was not willing to overcome- a sleeping dog 2 feet from the water dish. So finally, I had enough of watching him struggle with his fear and I decided to help him face it. So as I was putting him on the floor by the water dish, he pulled a YouTube cat video move and stretched out all his paws to catch whatever he could to prevent me from putting him on the floor. Once there, he looked at Sasha, two feet away, looked at the water 6 inches away, backed up, looked at the dog, looked at the water, then decided it was not worth risking his life for and jumped back up to an elevated position where he felt safe (although he really isn’t if she wanted to get him). I give up.

Sunday (today) I got up and worked a bit more on my WiFi project, made a smoothie, and headed off to the property to try to organize the shed. The shed was so full of stuff just thrown in in a hurry, I couldn’t get in the shed once I open the door much less find anything. So, remove everything from the shed, assemble three shelving units from Lowes, then put everything back was the order of the day. After getting everything out, and assembling two shelving units, I took a break and headed over to DD Gamble Ranch (Tom’s place) for horseback riding lessons, a nice visit with Tom and Alicia, and then Tom worked with me to help me locate two of the four property markers visually, and put together a good estimate of the GPS coordinates for the other two. Then back to work on the shed. It sprinkled a bit on me as I was trying to get stuff in the shed (again, a good motivator to pick up the pace and get stuff in out of the rain). The end result is I got all of the stuff that would fit on shelves on shelves with shelf space to spare (so now I can move more stuff from the trailer to the shed). However, the big stuff is sitting on the floor in the middle of the shed and once again, there is no space to walk in once I open the shed door. At least now, I just have to move the generator and the table saw out of the shed and I will have easy access to the rest of the contents of the shed.

Once back at the trailer, I grabbed a bite to eat and finished configuring the Raspberry PI as a controller for my new WiFi access point. Ready to test in the RV Park now. Spent a fair bit of time writing a rambling blog post. Now I’m ready to crawl in bed to rest up so I can start on a fresh to-do list tomorrow.

Night all.

At the Park – Days 6 and 7

Ok. Time for a quick, non-substantial update. Just to let you I’m still alive and kicken.

Had quite the thunderstorm Monday night/Tuesday Morning. Hit just as I was dozing off for the night. At this elevation, you can smell the burned ozone from the lightning. It is going to take a while to get used to that.

Ran around during my lunch hour Tuesday checking out PO boxes at Portal and Rodeo before finally opting to keep using the RV Park’s until I get established at the property.

Tuesday evening was spent pondering the placement of fencing and the arrangement of structures and facilities at the property. It has been quite windy the last few days so I included a couple of windbreaks that I didn’t have previously in those plans. I am presuming that it is as windy at the property as it is here at the RV park. A presumption I will need to verify.

Sasha hasn’t been pooing or eating. I finally figured her out Tuesday. For pooing, she wants me to walk her over to the dog run here in the park. Apparently, her 20’+ rope and leash combo was not long enough for her to feel that she was far enough away from the trailer to do her business. As for eating, apparently, she wants to dine inside the trailer with Hersey and I even though it is hotter in the trailer in the early evening than it is outside.

Took Sasha to the groomer today. Took between 3-4 hours for them to get her all prettied up. She looks tons better. I was thinking about buying a set of clippers and doing it myself, but for the money, that is one chore I think I will be happy to pay someone else to do.

Writing the blog early this evening because I have to get to work for work tonight and if I didn’t sneak it in now, it wouldn’t get done tonight.

With that, I will close with a few photo’s.

Jack rabbit crossing my campsite Monday Evening.

Pair of Black Geese (I presume they are geese) here at the RV Park.

Sasha’s “after” pic at the groomers. As you can see, her hair cut hasn’t helped her drooling problem at all.

At the Park – Day 5

First day back to work after the two week vacation I took to clear out of the house in Michigan and drive down to Rodeo NM to get setup in the RV park until I can move onto the property.

There won’t be much to update in terms of status on work days.

Actually, last night I wasn’t sure what my working situation would be this morning as a storm rolled through and knocked out the power just as I was trying to go to sleep for the night. Was thinking that I wished I had kept the generator in the truck or here at the trailer, then was wondering what the road and drive would be like going up to the property should I need to retrieve it in the morning. I was awakened during the night when the power was restored. For that I am thankful. I could rest easy knowing I had power to work in the morning.

My ability to work here at the RV park is fine between network and cell call performance. I enabled WiFi calling on my cell phone in the later half of the day. The verdict is still out on the performance of that. The first call, it seemed to me like the audio I was receiving was a bit choppy, but the far end could hear me just fine. Will see if I have similar experience tomorrow.

Lingered a bit too long at the trailer after work and missed the post master by 6 minutes to open a PO box. Will try again tomorrow. Popped into the local cafe and pantry to check out what they had. Drove to Animas to pay the invoice for the cattle guard installation and road and driveway grading that was done in advance of my arrival. Checked out the Valley Mercantile store while I was there. Also topped off the tank in the truck and filled a gas can for the generator.

While I was out running around, Cheryl was signing the offer letter on the house in Michigan. Don’t remember when in July closing was targeted for, but hey, it was quick and the offer is for more than what I paid. Life is good.

Spent the evening shopping online for various items, walked Sasha, and now I am writing a blog entry under the starry night sky and not getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Life is really good.

Time to close the laptop and look at some stars before turning in for the night.

Good night all.

At the Park – Day 4

Nothing major to report today. It was pretty much a rest and relaxation day.

I took the canopy framework and dropped it off at the property just outside the shed and grabbed a ladder so I can inspect the roof for damage – which I haven’t bothered to do yet.

I verified once more that the laptop and internet are in working order so I can start work in the morning without issue.

I left notes on my neighbor’s gates introducing myself.

I had not one but two social engagements with Tom from DD Gamble Guest Lodge and Ranch. He and his wife Alicia are really nice. First visit he showed me around his ranch including two pregnant mares – one full size and one mini. The second visit he let me use his PC, printer/scanner to tend to some real estate business back in Michigan. He then shared some of his highland scotch with me while we visited for a while longer. Just as I was about to excuse myself so he could tend to his business, Alicia came in from doing chores and said the mini had given birth. So we hurried out to check on mom and baby. Both were doing well.

Tom working with the baby to imprint on him so he can be used as a therapy horse.

Tom encouraged me to pick up junior for a photo op.

Junior finally figured out where dinner is.

I’m thankful that once again I lucked out and have great neighbors.

At the Park – Day 3

Drove to Wilcox this morning and bought a generator. Paid $300 for it. Presuming I don’t have any issues with it, that was a good price.

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Stopped at the Ace Hardware in Wilcox to pick up a few things and forget to grab a few others.

Got a call while I was at the hardware store from my real-estate agent regarding my home for sale in Michigan. Got a good offer – essentially asking price. As there have been a number of showings in the last few days and real-estate is really moving right now, we are waiting to see if any better offers come in. Regardless, looks like I will have it sold next month.

I remembered to snap a photo of the canopy.

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Fell asleep while trying to figure out the best place to go for lumber and PEX plumbing tools and supplies this weekend. When I woke up, I decided both could wait until Monday and I would try my luck at Valley Merchantile in Animas (http://www.valleymercantileinc.com/) after work. I have other business to tend to at Elbrock Water Systems in Animas anyway.

Drove to the property to try to find space for the generator, finally put a padlock on the shed and walk the property to see if I could find the north east corner marker. No luck finding the marker, but took a number of photos of items on the property.

File_002 — Just a pile of rocks ready for me to use in projects.

File_003 — A tower that I may attempt to salvage, put back up for use as an antenna tower.

File_005 — A sizable pen built with cattle panels and a gate.

I was tired, out of water in my mug, and hungry. Seems like three good reasons to stop at the Rodeo Tavern for a drink and a bite to eat. Happy that they have baked potato and steamed broccoli on the menu.

A wind storm/dust storm arrived while I was in the tavern. Given the minimal rain around here, dust storms are a real danger out here as they can drop visibility down to near zero just like a snow storm in the north. Finished my meal and headed out into the dust storm. Thankfully, this one wasn’t too bad to be out in…. Unless you are a canopy only tied down via 18″ stakes in sandy soil. This is what I arrived home to.

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As I was disassembling the canopy, I was reviewing all the things I was thankful for:

Sasha was not hurt (her albeit long leash was secured to the canopy).
The trailer stopped the canopy from completely sailing away (taking Sasha with it until she slipped her collar).
It was still light out for me to deal with the situation.
I learned a few valuable lessons with minimal expense/impact.

I’m thinking this “I’m thankful for” approach to life is a pretty good stress management tool. 🙂

At the Park – Days 1 and 2

To get you up to speed, I am currently staying in Rodeo, NM (http://www.rodeonewmexico.com/) at Rusty’s RV Ranch (http://www.rustysrvranch.com/), while I work out the details necessary to get internet delivered to our newly acquired property in Portal AZ (http://www.portalarizona.com/).

I’ve had a couple of productive days although my to-do list seems to keep growing instead of shrinking. I guess that is the way it is going to be for the next few years – no change from the last few years.

The park had some local network issues that prevented me from accessing the internet via their free WiFi and signal on my cell here only supports voice calls and SMS texts thus the delay in my posts.

Thursday I set up our shade canape, connected the fresh water line to the trailer, unloaded the truck at the property, then took a truckload of stuff out of the trailer and moved it to the shed on the property.

It seems I forgot to take a photo after I put the canopy up. I will do so tomorrow. If there is interest, I will post it in the blog.

I was at the property at sunset Thursday evening so I snapped a photo of that view.

Funny thing with the water line. I learned something that Hollywood does not exaggerate… So I was preparing to hook the hose to the trailer when I noted that Sasha was laying next to the trailer in the shade from the morning sun and her water dish was on the far side of the trailer. I thought I would be nice and set a water dish up for her on this side of the trailer, so I put the water dish down by her, set the hose down by the water dish, then went and turned on the water. This is where it gets entertaining. It was a light weight water hose for RV’s, and the water pressure here is very high. When I turned on the water, that hose started dancing around like nobody’s business spraying water everywhere including on Sasha. Sasha did not appreciate or see the humor in it, however, I myself had a few chuckles and noted that I should not do that again.

Friday:

I worked on organizing the trailer and moving more stuff to the shed.

Assisted Rusty (park’s owner) with correcting the network issues so I could access the internet and she and her other guests could also use it reliably. I also rattled off a few suggestions for improving wireless in general at the park after listening to her describe some of her ongoing network issues. A little later she stopped by my lot and asked if I wanted some consulting work in trade for what ever. Told her yes. Think I will work on that a bit this weekend as she is anxious to get it worked out before her busy season starts.

I’ve been struggling with drinking water coming from the RV’s sink and I’ve run out of the 8 gallons of water I brought with me. It tastes awful. I think I’m tasting remnants of the RV Antifreeze in the lines. I’ve confirmed that the taste is not coming from the water at the parks spicket. I need to verify it is not coming from the hose tomorrow.

Had my own DSL line connected into the trailer. Yay. I have my own dedicated internet circuit. 5MB download 512K upload.

Had a nice dinner with Rusty and her family (it is a park wide dinner invite but practically no one is here at the moment).

Went to Animas to find the store there had closed already – I knew there was a chance it would be closed but decided to go anyway. Topped off my fuel tank while I was there.

Dropped the load I had packed up through the course of the day at the shed on the property. Was greeted by a couple of the local residents of the land. The shed is now officially completely full, at least until I build shelves in there and better use the space.

One of a few current local residents that will be evicted here in the near future.

I snapped a few photos of the view from the property. I also tried to take a few panoramic shots. Here they are:

View of the canyon from the area cleared to put the trailer on.

Panoramic shot of the mountains on the far side of the valley.

Something compelled me to stop at the Tavern in Rodeo on the way back to the RV park. Maybe cause I was thirsty for some good cold water. Maybe it was to try to meet some locals. Maybe it was to sit in an air conditioned space a while longer. Sure am glad I did. Three waters and one margarita – yes only one very tasty top shelf margarita later I met my neighbors to the south: Tom and Alicia. I also learned that the bartender, Donna, was also the Rodeo Post Master. Tom, my neighbor to the south was very anxious to meet and talk with me. He runs DD Gamble Guest Lodge & Ranch. See http://www.ddgambleguestlodge.com. They where anxious about the possibility of continued access to parts of our new property. It seems that as part of the DMD Hearts and Hooves 501c program they operate, they bring vets and other disabled individuals over to the property via horseback to look at the rock formations that a previous owner built (as can be seen in satellite images). After talking briefly with Cheryl, we are both of the mindset that we would like to work something out so they can continue to have access and use the land for that purpose. At this point, I will try to meet up with him Sunday and talk things through.

In closing I would like to give thanks for:

Sasha, Hershey, and I all survived the extreme heat here and that it is not as hot here as in Pheonix and Tuscon.
Making friends with Rusty and meeting Tom and Alicia.
Having gallon jugs from home that I can fill with drinking water until I get the trailer’s kitchen tap water sorted out.
Air Conditioning.
My good health.
Having internet and cellular service enabling me to stay in touch with family and friends.

On the Road – Photos

Now that I’m a tiny bit more organized, I’ve synced the pics to my laptop so I can upload and post them. Someday I’ll install the app to enable me to post from my phone. Someday I’ll figure out how to sync via wireless from my phone. Someday I’ll sign up for a cloud based photo service and upload pics to there and supply links or something in the blog… Lot’s of learning to do for this old dog (ok, middle aged dog).

Any way, here we go.

Hershey Riding on the Dash for the last few miles of IN. A major bump encouraged him to sit on the softer more stable seat with pillow I setup for him.

Stopped in Joiliet, IL for the night and found this wind scoop on passenger side of trailer.

Stopped in Joiliet, IL for the night and found this wind scoop on the drivers side of trailer.

View from my lot at Rusty’s RV Ranch the next morning.

Those pics bring you current with where I’m at in my blogging.

Next blog will cover yesterday (Thursday) and today.

On the Road – Day 4

Sorry for the late upload of this post. I had internet challenges which I will cover next post.

Made it safe and sound arriving around 11:30PM EDT. I am starting writing this offline at 3:30 AM local time Thursday morning. Clearly my body’s clock is still on EDT time. No biggie.

Yesterday was interesting. It was rather ho-hum starting in Texas, topping off fuel, and heading out. Around 3:30PM Mountain time with the outside temp at 104F I had to climb a mountain just prior to Las Cruses. It was a very long climb. Engine getting hot. No place to pull off, need to slow down. Engine getting hotter, still no place to pull off, slow down more as much as I dare (25MPH) while still in a traffic lane with vehicles zipping by me. Engine and transmission temperatures nearing red line. Finally a place to pull off. Oh look, there is the top of the climb about 1000 feet away. Don’t care, stopping any way. Pull off and put it in park. Truck starts beeping at me warning me of over heating condition. I shutdown the engine. Can smell something – I’m not an automotive guy but can smell something telling me the truck engine/tranny got too hot. No steam or smoke visible so that is good. Send a text blast to family letting them know my current status (hoping mom doesn’t see the texts right away). Let Sasha out and secure her leash to the rear of the trailer (the only location with shade). Get Hershey and Sasha water. Decide to let Hershey out of the truck as well. As he is not used to being on a leash, he slipped his harness when I was busy with Sasha. Where did he go? I hear him. There he is. He climbed up into the rear suspension of the truck to hide. Get him out, put his harness back on, and put him in the trailer. Grab a lounge chair from the trailer, recline behind the trailer in the shade with Sasha and relax while I wait for the engine and transmission to cool and exchange texts with family getting advice. Amazingly, at this point I am not stressed. I am simply relaxing with the attitude that I will get stressed if and when I confirm long term automotive issues. As I won’t know the status for an hour or two (after the engine has cooled), then there is no value in worrying at this moment, only in taking whatever corrective actions I can and staying safe as much as possible. At this point, I am simply experiencing an unplanned R&R stop on a beautiful mountainside. Snap a couple of photos.

In retrospect, I wish I had gotten a pic of the truck with the hood up to better record the memory. Oh well. About 45 minutes into my stay, a local stops in to check on me. Makes sure I’m ok, asks if I need water. Nice guy. Well, it’s been an hour (didn’t seem that long), and although the engine and tranny temp hasn’t dropped much in the last 30 minutes, they are now down to the operating temps they have been hanging around for the trip. I can still see coolant in the reservoir so that is good. I open the reservoir cap – pressure has come down enough that I don’t observe it releasing pressure when I open it. Add 2-3 cups more coolant to top it off to what appears to be the full line. Return the coolant cap and close the hood. Time to pack up. Put the chair away, get Sasha in the truck. She was reluctant as always but she finally gets in to get the reward of a hot dog. What to do with Hershey? Seems to me that the trailer has not been overly hot every time I stop and have to get into it for something so I feel generally comfortable leaving him in the trailer for the rest of the ride (~3 hours). Do one last check to make sure I haven’t left anything behind and the trailer is locked. Break time is over. On the road again. Thankfully the rest of the trip was uneventful.

I roll into the park around 9:30PM local time. Find my lot and park the truck/trailer. Connect the power and call it good for the night. Walk Sasha. Get a bite to eat while sitting in the recliner gazing at the stars and talking to Cheryl (my wife) on the phone. Prepare a jar of oatmeal for breakfast and call it a night. It has been a long few days.

Am I ever thankful for:

Making it to my destination safely.
Not having any major mechanical problems on the way.
Having family and friends for support.

On the Road – Day 3

11 PM Central time Tuesday evening and I’ve just parked and gotten settled for the evening. I’ve stopped at a parking area off I-40 in Texas just West of Amarillo. Made good progress today. Looking at the map, it looks like I will be able to make it to the RV Park tomorrow barring any unforseen circumstances.

Sasha decided she wanted to sleep outside the trailer. Hoping scorpions don’t bug her. This close the the freeway I am guessing that we wouldn’t see any rattlers, but my confidence was low enough in that guess that I lit my way with a flashlight looking for snakes and I wasn’t willing to take her into the 6-10″ grass/weeds for her to do her business, especially in the dark. Maybe tomorrow I will don my snake boots and walk her a few feet in to see if she will go otherwise we will drive down the road a bit to find a place to top off the fuel tank and let her walk for a bit before we hit the road in earnest.

It is breezy here tonight and looking at radar it looks like there are storms to the west just south of the free way. Can’t tell from the radar what direction they are traveling. That in addition to being so close to the freeway it could be a very “interesting” evening trying to sleep.

Will close with a few I am thankful for’s from today.

I am thankful that/for:

A good night’s sleep last night enabling me to drive a number of hours today.
Gimley (name given to my truck) didn’t give up today even when I pushed him too hard and he nearly overheated.
Sage advice from Rob: Don’t drive so damn fast while hauling a fully loaded 30′ trailer through the mountains (or at all for that matter) and Gimley won’t overheat (and you’ll be safer).
The driver that was kind enough (out of self preservation most likely) to hit his/her breaks when I realized the Service station was a left exit and not a right exit so I did a quick signal, check, and go (I really needed fuel at that point).
Hershey and Sasha rode well again today.
Love and well wishes from friends and family.
Just enough laptop battery juice to post this.

On the Road – Day 2

Second day on the road and once again, didn’t get as far as I would have liked. Spent much of the morning preparing a few day’s worth of Oatmeal once I located the various ingredients and searching for side mirror extensions.

I liked yesterday’s positive format and as tired as I am today, I think it would be worth while to repeat to stay positive so here it goes.

I’m thankful for/that:

I was able to get some sleep (4 hours) after going to bed around 5AM EST.
Oatmeal with rehydrated blueberries for breakfast.
A nice walk with Sasha to Advanced Autoparts in the same block we parked for the night to buy side mirror extentions.
Not losing the Advanced Autoparts receipt so I could return the side mirror extensions hassle free.
The nice sales person at Car Quest (another autoparts store within walking distance from where we parked) for directing me to the RV sales parts store down the road a bit.
Keeping my cool and backing the trailer around a corner without incident or any frustration in a hotel parking lot I should never have pulled to so I could pull back out.
Finding side mirror extensions that work.
Good wiper blades on the truck to clear the rain.
It wasn’t raining as I was passing through Saint Louis during rush hour.
How fast diesel fuel pumps for Semi’s pump fuel into the truck.
Hershey slept most of the day and has quit crying, even when we hit bumps that disturb his highness.
Sasha has also adjusted well to riding.
This early morning’s trailer repair appears to be holding.
Internet for the RV park has been ordered and is scheduled for delivery on Friday – I need to be there with the RV.
A parking lot where I could park near an (unwelcoming for RV’ers) Walmart where I bought an inverter to charge the laptop as the trailer’s battery does not power the AC outlets.
Being tired enough I should once again be able to sleep through Sasha’s snoring once I finish this post.
What looks like the ability to put in a full day of driving tomorrow.
Finishing this blog post before falling asleep.

Good night all.